The way our society is constructed, body shaming has become excessively normal.

We have been nurtured to believe that only one kind of beauty is alluring, or one kind of skin colour or body size is good enough! Everything else apart from the societal norms isn’t how it should be and we are forced to conform to the needs of the society in order to be accepted.

1. Oh my god you are so skinny!Skinny people are shamed for being thin or are teased for being anorexic.

2. Bro, didn’t you drink Complan as a kid?Short women get this a lot. Being called short, midget or getting a lot of height jokes become common if you are short. Along with jokes, short girls are always asked towear heels so that they seem taller.

3. Use this cream; it will help you lighten your skin color!Indians are obsessed with fair skin. Being a woman, fair skin is very important orelse we always end up hearing ‘Who will marry you?’ Classic examples of obsession with fair skin are fair and lovely advertisements and even the TV Show Bidaai inwhich one of the lead characters was constantly criticised because of her dark complexion.

4. Fat Shaming!Women who are overweight or obese are teased excessively for their body structure.They are never taken seriously and face excessive bullying. Sometimes they are alsoperceived as a pushover.

5. Shaming women who do weight lifting!Women who are body builders have muscular bodies. They do not conform to the societal norms of the female body and hence, face criticism for the same. Sometimes theyare even called masculine for the deviations from the perceived ‘normal’.

6. Post Pregnancy body shamingPost Pregnancy women tend to put on weight and they are heavily criticized for the same. For example- Aishwarya Rai was body shamed for not getting back into shape after her pregnancy.

7. Tattoo shaming

Women are perpetually shamed for their tattoos. It is important that the societyunderstands that it is their body and they have the right to decorate it the way they want. Society tends to depict such women as bad and ill – mannered.But, an advertisement by Amway tries to break the stereotypes prevalent abouttattooed women.

8. Shaming women who undergo BotoxMany women are criticized for undergoing Botox as they are making chemical-induced changes to their bodies.When we criticize such women we are forgetting that it is their bodies and theyhave a total right to it. We are no one to judge them for their choices.

9. Shaming women with body hair
Clean shaven bodies are the norm for women. Women with body hair are perceived as an unhygienic gorilla.Well, it is a painful process which everyone does not like to go through.Why pressurize someone for something so unnecessary?

10. Body-Curve ShamingWomen with curvaceous bodies also face trouble. If you have huge breasts you fearbeing started at and if you have a flat chest you end up being teased. It is likenothing is enough. Women’s bodies have been excessively exploited by the marketin order to feed into the patriarchal system. The objectification of our bodies leadsto the formation of various societal norms which we are required to keep up.Any deviations from these norms create atroubling environment for women.Women have rights over their bodies so this dictating environment needs to stop.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: This article is written by Manjulika Chellappan, our intern.